The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for aligning microscope images. The preferred arrangement of the invention relates to an arrangement in which microscope images of the same or very similar subjects provided by different microscopes or the same microscope at different magnifications are to be aligned.
For example, microscope images of the same (or very similar) subject but at different powers, or different types of microscope image, for example, the same or similar microscope images stained with different types of stain, need to be compared and to compare the two images it is necessary to be able to align the two images or at least the parts of the image under examination.
In examining biological specimens, it is well known that there are problems. The microscope slide of a biological specimen may be examined for the tissue structure which is particularly useful for a pathologist, using H and E staining (see http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=H%26E_stain&printable=yes.) The stain stains the tissue structures which means that it is possible to pick out anomalies in the structure.
To examine the cellular structure or other quantitative information in more detail, a stain such as the Feulgen stain is preferred: (see http://www.k-state.edu/wgrc/Protocols/Cytogenetics/feulgen.html.) In Feulgen staining, the DNA of cells are selectively stained which enables one to more readily examine the cell structure. On the other hand the tissue structure is less easily determined. It is desirable, therefore, to be able to view a particular section of biological tissue using both techniques. Other stains may be used for different purposes such as stains incorporating biomarkers which may be used to identify areas of specific biological interest or event.
Furthermore, more information can be determined from these techniques by looking into the cellular structure using the Feulgen staining and using a higher powered microscope than would normally be used, that is an oil-immersion, lens microscope (LM).
The difficulty is that it is necessary for an observer such as a pathologist to be able to provide a correlation between the structure which is easily viewed with the H and E stain slide, with the detailed structure and/or quantatative information provided by the oil-immersion microscope and Feulgen stain. In other words, the pathologist would benefit from knowing exactly which cell, group of cells or area in the H and E stain image corresponds to the detailed cellular structure of the Feulgen stained image from the LM microscope which is also at a higher magnification.